Space War

Professor Jameson Space Adventure #3

by Neil R. Jones, Gray Morrow (Cover Artist)

3 • Interior artwork by uncredited
7 • Zora of the Zoromes • (1935)
67 • Space War • (1935)
113 • Labyrinth • (1936)

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

158 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

Neil Ronald Jones (29 May 1909 - 15 February 1988) was an American author who worked for the state of New York. Not prolific, and little remembered today, Jones was ground–breaking in science fiction. His first story, "The Death's Head Meteor", was published in Air Wonder Stories in 1930, recording the first use of "astronaut". He also pioneered cyborg and robotic characters, and is credited with inspiring the modern idea of Cryonics. Most of his stories fit into a "future history" like that of Robert A. Heinlein or Cordwainer Smith, well before either of them used this convention in their fiction.

Rating not even a cover mention, the first installment of Jones' most popular creation, "The Jameson Satellite", appeared in the July 1931 issue of Amazing Stories. The hero was Professor Jameson, the last Earthman, who became immortal through the science of the Zoromes. Jameson was obsessed with the idea of perfectly preserving his body after death and succeeded by having it launched into space in a small capsule. Jameson's body survived for 40,000,000 years, where it was found orbiting a dead planet Earth by a passing Zorome exploration ship. The Zoromes, or machine men as they sometimes called themselves, were cyborgs. They came from a race of biological beings who had achieved immortality by transferring their brains to machine bodies. They occasionally assisted members of other races with this transition (i.e. the Tri-Peds and the Mumes), allowing others to become Zoromes and join them on their expeditions, which sometimes lasted hundreds of years. So, much like the Borg of the Star Trek series, a Zorome crew could be made up of assimilated members of many different biological species. The Zoromes discovered that Jameson's body had been so well preserved that they were able to repair his brain, incorporate it into a Zorome machine body and restart it. The professor joined their crew and, over the course of the series, participated in many adventures, even visiting Zor, the Zorome homeworld, where he met biological Zoromes. The professor eventually rose to command his own crew of machine men on a new Zorome exploration ship. "The Jameson Satellite" proved so popular with readers that later installments in Amazing Stories got not only cover mentions but the cover artwork.

Being cryopreserved and revived is an idea that would recur in SF, such as in Gene Roddenberry's Genesis II. One young science fiction fan who read The Jameson Satellite and drew inspiration from the idea of cryonics was Robert Ettinger, who became known as the father of cryonics. The Zoromes are also credited by Isaac Asimov as one of the inspirations behind the robots of his Robot series.

Masamune Shirow paid homage to Jones in his cyborg-populated Ghost in the Shell saga by including a no-frills brain-in-a-box design, even naming them Jameson-type cyborgs.

Jameson (or 21MM392, as he was known to his fellow metal beings) was the subject of twenty-one stories between 1931 and 1951, when Jones stopped writing, with nine stories still unpublished. In the late 1960s, Ace Books editor Donald A. Wollheim compiled five collections, comprising sixteen of these, including two previously unpublished. In all there were thirty Jameson stories written (twenty four eventually saw publication, six remain unpublished), and twenty-two unrelated pieces.

Reviews

[Tomislav · Rating 2 out of 5]

Neil R. Jones (1909-1988) was prolific science fiction writer of the pulp era. His most popular series of stories, published beginning in the 1930s, features Professor Jameson, a man of our own times who now explores the universe 40 million years in the future, as an immortal cyborg. The Jameson stories are known to have inspired Isaac Asimov as a child, and were known to other writers of the later golden age. In all, there were twenty-three Professor Jameson stories published between 1931 and 1951. A few more were published posthumously, or never published. In 1967, Ace Books re-published many of the stories in the form of five short books, each collecting several stories, in order. Collection #3, “Space War”, contains the third set of three stories:

Zora of the Zoromes, Amazing Stories, March 1935.
Space War, Amazing Stories, July 1935.
Labyrinth, Amazing Stories, April 1936.

The back story of this series is that modern-day Professor Jameson arranged for his body to be launched into space immediately after his death. 40 million years later, he was discovered in Earth orbit by a Zorome exploratory ship. Zoromes are cyborgs and they managed to salvage Professor Jameson’s brain using one of their 6-armed 4-legged machine-man bodies. There being no other surviving human beings, he joined the crew and shares in their adventures.

In the connected plots of the first two novellas of this collection, 21MM392 (the former Professor Jameson) and the crew have made it back to the Zoromes’ home world of Zor. There he meets Zora, a beautiful 6-armed 4-legged princess, still in her younger Zorome biological form. Her lover, Bext, has been captured by the Mumes of the world Mumed. The Mumes are also cyborgs, having been gifted with the immortality of cyborgism by the Zoromes. Unfortunately, the Mumes are not grateful, but would rather conquer the Zoromes. There are fearsome battles, and cunning deceit between the antagonists. Unfortunately, the action breaks off abruptly without stating the resolution. The third episode picks up with just a brief mention of that resolution as it launches a completely distinct adventure. In that adventure, the Zoromes land on a world of primitive biological bipeds. The Queegs’ food supply is an unintelligent metal-eating lifeform that chases the exploratory team through an elaborate system of caves on the planet of the Queegs.

This is typical 1930s pulp era space opera, and I would have rated it as a good example of that, if not for the awful plot drop at the end of the space war.

[Mike Bright · Rating 2 out of 5]

I remember this series fondly from my early teen days. I saw this one on the shelf recently and decided to revisit those days. I shouldn't have. This is a cheesy adventure story with only a tenuous connection to science. I guess I expect more from my science fiction today. The story has some gaping plot holes if you are paying attention.

Dr. Jameson is the last remaining human, although his brain has been transplanted to a robot body. He now roams the universe with the Zorome machine men having various adventures. This particular adventure includes a war with a neighboring race of evil machine men and a wandering tale of being trapped in a cave.

It isn't horrible, but it isn't good.

[David Critchfield · Rating 2 out of 5]

Three Professor Jameson stories from the 1930s are collected in this book. Not worth your time.

[Pam Stebbins · Rating 3 out of 5]

These stories were 1st published in 1935 and read like a matinee series. Think the old Buck Roger's series. This is for readers who want to travel back to early scifi days.